[5/8/06] Me and My Katamari for PSP

[L.S.D]

Game: Me and My Katamari

System: PSP

 

Katamari. A sticky ball. Any objects get rolled over by this ball will get stuck on it.

Trust the Japanese to come up with this weird idea of a game, with weird characters, and

weird settings.

 

This is my first time playing this game after seeing great reviews from fellow gamers and

online review site. I have never buy and play the PS2 version because it was too weird for

my taste. I mean, c'mon, how can rolling up objects fun??

 

Anyway, the Katamari story revolving around King of Cosmos, who always make a blunder,

and his son, the Dashing Prince, who always help to clean up the mess. This time, the Royal

Family is taking a holiday on Earth where they go to the beach to enjoy. It seems that the King

of Cosmos acidentally create huge waves while swimming which wipes out the nearby islands

causing the animals to be homeless. So, the Prince has been instructed to help the animals

by rolling up objects to create islands for them.

 

Graphics:

 

The graphic on the PSP is not the best that you have ever seen, but the cartoonish and blocky style

is quite interesting and unique. The objects in the game are not so detailed but you can still make

out what the hell are the things that you rolled up. However, there are still some minor downgrade

in this department. Whenever the katamari get to a certain size, it will "eat" up the objects you rolled

and only show some of the larger objects on the katamari. it seems that this was to avoid taxing the

PSP CPU from showing too many objects on the screen at the same time. However, it STILL causes

some slowdown during the transition whcih might bother some people.

 

Graphic: 7.5/10 (decent graphics but hampered by a little slowdown in some places)

 

Sound:

Ok, I admit. I am hooked to the "Na,na......na,na,na,na,na,na,na...." music. The music is very

addictive in this game. I can't help whistling to the tune in my head all days. The bgm selection

is taken from previous Katamari series, with some remixes, but since this is my first Katamari

game, i don;t mind it at all. THe sound effect is all in a fun and cartoonish way. You will hear

people screaming, car honking, the squeaking sound made by Prince's feet when he walks

or cow mooing. Fun

 

Sound: 9/10

 

Controls:

A lot of people was put off by PSP control which do not have the 2nd analog stick to use.

Namco made changes to the control by assuming the DPAD is the left analog stick and

the face buttons and the right analog stick. THe result? Not a good one. I can only play

this game for about one hour plus due to my thumbs aching. And it is extremely hard to

some of the more advanced movement. I only used the basic commands to move and turn

the katamari and not bothered with the advanced controls. Katamari perfectionists who like

to execute even the smallest turn would find this PSP version, a nightmare to control.

 

Controls: 6/10

 

Gameplay:

Rolling is fun! Yeah, right, for about 2 -3 hours. Seriously, the game was fun. The menu was not the

usual menu interface type where you choose what to do. Instead you control the Prince who can

roam around in an island, and objects on the island is your menu item. Animals represent the levels

that you can choose to play in, there is a rowing bowl (yes, rice bowl) for you to row to the next islands

and such. The game was full of fun and humour, with the King of Cosmos always dishing out his

weird sense of wisdom. You will feel the satisfaction of rolling up objects especially those huge objects.

I am extremly pleased when I rolled up my country, Petronas Twin Towers which bored the

description of the highest tower in the world with the ability to add up the height by adding the

antenna But all this fun will last only until you complete the game for the first time.

You will begin to notice that there are not much levels in this game. Worse still, the levels are

not very big and it will hamper you from rolling more objects. You will have to come back to the same

place again and again in hope that you can roll up some objects that you missed. And some of the

later levels are only a combination of the few earlier level! IT BORED ME TO DEATH! After playing

for about 20 times, you would have seen all of the levels. it really put me off from playing this game

again. Also, there will be a midlevel loading which was not long but it hampers the flow of the game.

However, perfectionists will be very happy to found that you have lots of objects and secret items

to roll up to complete the archives. THere are also Prince's cousins whom you can rolled up and

used in the missions too. But they don't have any special abilities and play just like the Prince,

so it's not a biggie here. I would say the only saving grace here is the mini game which you unlocked

when you complete the game. A 2D Katamari game ala NES.

 

Gameplay: 6/10 (small levels really bring this game down)

 

Overall:

Graphics: 7.5/10

Sound: 9/10

Control: 6/10

Gameplay: 6/10

 

Overall: 7/10

 

If only Namco put more levels into the game.......It would be so much funner than this PSP

version. In fact, I found myself playing the mini game more than the actual game. Katamari fans

will still love this game but I doubt anyone can go through hours and hours of gameplay just to

collect objects. I would recommend a rental for some short burst of fun.

[Agozer]

Katamari is sexy on any console. Thanks for that review.

[L.S.D]

Sexy, no doubt. I would say Namco screw this up.

If only it have more levels....

It would so enjoyable....